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Black cutworms can wreak havoc on your garden, so learn these tips for identification and control.
Identification
How to Identify Cutworms
Cutworms feed on a wide variety of vegetables and flowers, so any young seedlings or transplants will be susceptible. To identify cutworms, try patrolling your garden at dusk or during the evening and inspect around the bases of plants. They are also partial to cloudy days.
Different species range in color—grey, pink, green, and black—and can be as long as 2 inches. They can be solid, spotted, or striped. They tend be curled up when they are not on the move. Cutworms are stealthy and tend to feed only at night, hiding during daylight hours.
Black cutworms, Agrotis ipsilon, are one of the most common cutworms. They have small dark spots on their bodies and mature into the dark sword-grass moth.
Variegated cutworms, Peridroma saucia, are another common species. They are mottled brown and have a faint white stripe down their backs.
Adult cutworms are moths of dark wing colors. They are usually brown or gray and get to be about 1½ inches long with a 1½-inch wing length. Keep an eye out for the adults, because the females will lay eggs in dry soil after they mate.
Identifying Cutworm Damage
Cutworms chew through plant stems at the base. They primarily feed on roots and foliage of young plants and will even cut off the plant from underneath the soil. In most cases, entire plants will be destroyed; they do a lot of damage in no time at all. Even if only the bottom of the plant is destroyed, the top will often shrivel and die.
In the summer, cutworms sometimes crawl to the tops of plants and do damage there. Be careful not to mistake this damage for slug or cabbage worm damage.
Still unsure? Try our Plant Problem ID tool to quickly diagnose pests and diseases.
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In general, cutworms show up in spring when the weather warms. The larvae eat for several weeks before going into the soil to pupate. The moths will emerge to lay eggs that hatch in a few days. There may be several generations per year. Cutworms may overwinter as eggs, larvae, or pupae, depending on the species. For best advice about timing in your area, we'd recommend talking to a local garden center or your county's Cooperative Extension:
http://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services
You might be interested in this article from Purdue University about the black cutworm. It is for farmers that raise corn, but it has a chart about emergence times of larvae and adults of the black cutworm in Indiana:
http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/fieldcropsipm/insects/black-cutworms.php
Some cutworm species do climb. Check the soil about a 1/2 inch down periodically to make sure other cutworms do not set up shop.
You'll need to contact your local garden center as insecticide usage and laws vary by state or province.
We've never experienced cutworms in the home (only in the garden). We wonder if it's a different kind of worm? See this page for reference: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05572.html
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